Sara Kraus, a young girl
from Mila Street in the Warsaw Ghetto, lost there her parents, siblings
and all her extended family. With the only remaining brother, Mietek,
she left Warsaw on foot and roamed the fields in search of food and shelter. Many good peasants gave them food. In the spring of 1942 Sara found
shelter near Lublin in Prawiedniki, with Stanislawa Pacek, a teacher. She knew that Sara was Jewish but taught her Catholic prayers. This
knowledge saved the life of all of them when some Germans, looking for
a hiding Jewess, irrupted into the house . They ordered the two sons,
Jerzy and Leszek, to dig a grave for all of them if they don't show them
the Jewish girl. They, like their mother, being good Catholics,
knew the 5th commandment:"Do not kill" and kept silent, When Sara
found under the piano recited her Catholic prayers, some shooting
in the nearby forest distracted the Germans, who left in a hurry. But Sara felt the necessity of leaving her good protectors. She returned
to them later, coming from another harboring place with the Pasiebiaks
(q.v.). Stanislawa brought her to Lublin, to the bishop's house where
she helped in the kitchen. As the girl decided to return to Warsaw,
Stanislawa gave her an address of a railway man in Lublin who put her on
the train. See her memoirs: Sara Kraus-Kolkowicz: "Dziewczynka z
ulicy Milej, albo swiadectwo czasu Holokaustu" (A girl from Mila Street.
A document from the time of the Holocaust). Lublin, Agencja Wydawniczo-Handlowa
AD. 1995.

Julia resided at Trembowla,
Tarnopol district. In 1942 she took into her house a six months old
girl, Irenka, whose father, Etinger and mother Handzia had perished in
the ghetto. When this became dangerous, she left the city and hid
in the country. After the war Julia went to Koziel and to Szczawno, near
Walbrzych. In 1955 there came from the Soviet Union the brother of
the girl's mother, and requested the return of the child. As Julia
considered Irenka as her own daughter, she refused and the uncle took the
child from the school, without Julia's knowledge. Julia and her sister Stefania
Szmigielski (q.v.) helped also a cousin of Salomon Brinstein from Trembowla. The latter stated in 1985, that Julia, at the risk of her life and with
complete disinterestedness saved Irenka and Salomon's cousin. Irenka
is now in the USA. See: Grynbert, op. cit.

An officer of the underground,
Teodor, a railway man, was called "crazy" for his incredible daring in
helping Jews. Among other exploits he entered the Trawniki SS camp
with money and instructions and led out of the camp the Jewish community
leader, Emanuel Ringelblum, the chronicler of the Warsaw ghetto. It was Mieczyslaw Wolski (q.v.) and Mieczyslaw Marczak's (q.v.) family,
who hid Ringelblum in a bunker, called "Krysia" with over 30 people. They all were discovered and killed, with their protectors. But that
was not all. Teodor had in the basement a hideout, where he sheltered
a family of Jewish intellectuals. His janitor continuously harassed
Teodor, suspecting him of helping Jews; he even searched his apartment
with some tenants, but fortunately found nothing. Teodor took care
of all the affairs of his protégés, supplying them with food,
money, keeping them in contact with their families, etc. At the same
time he looked for new places of refuge for other Jews, who either in town
or in the country, needed suddenly to change their shelters, as this was
a most common occurrence. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op.
cit., Prekerowa, op. cit. and Wronski & Zwolakowa, op. cit.

PALESTER-SZULISLAWSKI, Maria
(1897-1991)

Maria studied Romance languages
in Lvov and her husband was a physician graduated from the University of
Vienna. Before the war the couple moved to Warsaw. They had
a sixteen years old son, Krzysztof and a ten years old daughter, Malgorzata. Maria, working in the city administration in the Welfare department, was
very active in placing Jewish children with Polish families. She
also took care of Jews residing on the "Aryan" side, organizing for them
false documentation and medical care, keeping twelve (12) persons in her
apartment. These refugees were: Salomea and Maurycy A., an advocate,
the physician M.B., Adam C., Magdalena G., Maria K. and her husband, a
physician, Maria P. with her daughter, the couple P. (he was a chemist)
and a girl from Kielce, Pesel R. In 1943, confronted by blackmailers,
she had to pay them. The couples K. and P. went to the Hotel Polski
and perished (a German trap for Jews). The others survived the war. Maria P., while living in Israel, informed Yad Vashem about Maria Palester's
merits who was recognized as "Righteous" in 1981. See: Grynberg,
op. cit., Prekerowa, op. cit.

Wladyslawa brought in winter
of 1942 the two Steger brothers, hiding with Grzegorz Milonas (q.v.) in
the Lvov area to the apartment of her parents Wawrzyniec and Jozefa, in
Warsaw, where they hid in the attic. Later the two Stegers found
refuge with Waclaw, Wladyslawa and Jozefa Rybak family (q.v.). The
above mentioned were all honored as "Righteous" on Dec. 15, 1999 in Warsaw

On March 3, 1941 the German
governor general, Otto Wachter, ordered the formation of a ghetto, in Podgorze,
a poor and old quarter of Cracow. Like elsewhere, Poles had to leave
their houses in that quarter. Normally there lived 3.000 people. Now 16.000 Jews replaced them. The "Eagle" pharmacy owned by Tadeusz
Pankiewicz was allowed to remain in hands of a Pole, the only such case
in Poland, and that in the very heart of the ghetto. The pharmacist,
beside his professional duties, organized false documents and escapes from
the ghetto; hid some Jews in his pharmacy, and allowed it to become a meeting
place, for reading newspapers, for discussing the news, and for extracting
vital information from the Germans, drunk with vodka. Tadeusz Pankiewicz,
Dr. Ludwik Zurowski (q.v.) and other physicians who met there, saved many
Jews from certain death and extended their help even to the Plaszow camp,
providing food and medicines there. Two women pharmacists: Irena
Gozdzik and Helena Krywaniuk valiantly seconded Tadeusz in these perilous
activities. Neither was recognized as "Righteous". See: Grynberg,
op. cit., Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit. and also the book by Pankiewicz:
"Apteka w Getcie Krakowskim" (Pharmacy in the Cracow ghetto), Cracow, 1947
and his memoirs published in the "Przeglad Lekarski" (Medical journal)

From the ca. 2,500 Jewish
children aided by Zegota (Council of Aid to Jews) in Warsaw or by the members
of the City Welfare Department, ca. 1300 found shelter with foster families. To find them and to place the children with them, Stanislaw and Zofia risked
their own children. Others who distinguished themselves in this task
were: Maria Palester (q.v.) and her daughter Malgorzata, Izabela Kuczkowski
and her mother Kazimiera Trzaskalski, Maria Kukulski (q.v.), Maria Drozdowski-Rogowicz,
Wincenty Ferster, Janina Grabowski, Joanna Wald, Jadwiga Bilwin, Jadwiga
Koszutski, Irena Schultz (q.v.) Lucyna Franciszkiewicz, and Helena Maluczynski. These children could be seen as making part of four groups: the first was
given false documents, steady monthly stipends, garments and food parcels. The second needed only occasional help, like documents, medical care or
money to pay the blackmailers. The third group needed documents exclusively. The fourth was led out from the ghetto by private initiative but needed
sometimes only medicines or admittance to the hospitals. In that
helped the following doctors: Juliusz Majkowski, Mieczyslaw Ropek, Zofia
Franio (q.v.), Prof. Andrzej Trojanowski (q.v.), dr. Hanna Kolodziejski
and the nurse Helena Szeszko. From the 22 persons mentioned here
only six have been recognized. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op.
cit., Prekerowa, op. cit.

Stefania lived at Slawin,
near Lublin. Through her cousin, Ryszard Pastowicz, who worked in
Lublin, Stefania met Mojzesz Gliksztejn, who later died in the Majdanek
camp. From the 43,000 Jews residing in Lublin, 30,000 were deported
to the Belzec extermination camp. To Stefania came at that time Ida,
Mojzesz's wife with her four years old girl. Stefania and her cousin
procured them false documents thanks to which both mother and daughter
survived the war in Stefania's house. Ida never lost contact with
her. In 1963 Ida attested from Israel that Stefania, at the risk
of her life, hid her and her daughter from November 1942 till July 1944,
sharing with them whatever she had. See: Grynberg, op cit.

The Partykas farmed in Drugnia,
Kielce
prov. In October 1942, Roza Longwald from Chmielnik escaped from
a transport to Treblinka and came to them asking for help. Roza stayed
in the barn, or in the attic, or even in their apartment. Once the
Germans, having been informed about a Jewess in the third house of the
village, searched the third house from the beginning of the village, but
luckily missed the third house from the end. Roza died in Poland
in 1983. Her daughter, Jadwiga Gutman, also survived the war. She wrote in 1987 from the USA that the Partykas shared with her mother
everything, when they did not have enough for themselves and their children
and that after the war Marianna sold even a piece of land to give money
to her mother. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

PARZYCH, Franciszek
PARZYCH, Maria, wife

PASIERBIAK, Stanislaw
PASIERBIAK, Natalia wife

Stanislaw and Natalia, who
had a 2 years old son, took in the young Sara Kraus, who came to them from
her previous shelter at Stanislawa Pacek(q.v.) at Prawieniki. They
lived in Bystrzyca Stara, 10 km from there. She had to pasture their
five cows, but they treated her very well, realizing that she is a Jewish
girl. They wanted to keep her, in spite of announcements that any
help to Jews would be punished by death. But the girl wished to return
to Stanislawa Pacek. Her brother, Mietek joined her, but some German
patrol shot him. Sara from Prawiedniki returned to Warsaw and met
an old acquaintance, Olesia Lupanowa, who took her home. She arranged
for her false documents under the name of Stefania Krausowska and organized
for her being taken as a Polish girl to Germany for work. After two
years of hard labor and many bad experiences there she was liberated by
the Russians and Poles in 1945 and returned to Poland. Later she settled
in Israel, but maintains cordial relations with all the people who helped
her. See: Sara Kraus-Kolkiewicz" "Dziewczynka z ulicy Milej, albo
swiadectwo czasu Holokaustu". Lublin, Agencja Wydawniczo-Handlowa
AD, 1995.

The couple resided in Chmielow,
near Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski. Tadeusz worked in the Ostrowiec smelting
works, where worked also some Jews. At the request of Mosze Brukier,
Tadeusz led out of the ghetto several members of Mosze's family, Aron Rappaport
and Meir Wizenfeld. Other Jews from the smelting works, who escaped
from the transport to the camp, arrived also to the Pastuszkas: the two
Koplowicz brothers, Jankiel, Leo Fuks and Icchak Crandel. With the
Brukier family there were fifteen (15) people hidden in a bunker for more
than a year. After the end of the occupation it was discovered that
even Marek Fuks of whom the Pastuszkas knew nothing, was also among the
hidden. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

PASTUSZYNSKI, Zygmunt

PASZEK, Ludwik
PASZEK, Maria, wife
PASZEK, Henryk, son

Ludwik was an organizer of
a popular underground Polish movement in the Pszczyna district. During
the evacuation of Auschwitz, he facilitated the saving of two Romanian
women, who escaped from a transport and returned to their country.
In 1948 Ludwik got a letter
from New York, written by Olga Lengyel, in which she thanked him heartily
and informed him that she wrote a book about her experiences. The
book was translated into English. In her second book she planned
to relate how she lived at Brzezce and how good the dear Paszek family
had been to her. See: Wronski & Zwolakowa, op.cit.

PASZKIEWICZ, Anna

Eugenia Warszowska lost her
husband in a transport. She found herself in the Pruzany ghetto with
her two daughters, Regina and Ada. She renewed contact with her schoolmate
from before the war, Anna Paszkiewicz. After escaping the ghetto
Eugenia and her daughters moved to an apartment with Anna and her daughter
Janina, which they had to change later, but Anna continued to take care
of the three women till the end of the war. Anna was honored as "Righteous"
on Dec. 15, 1999 in Warsaw, as announced the Israeli Embassy in Poland

PASZKIEWICZ, Rozalia
PASZKIEWICZ, Wladyslaw,
son

Rozalia, a fifty-year old
laundress, kept seven (7) Jewish refugees, hidden behind a closet in her
uncle's apartment. She did not have money to feed them all and some
became ill. When one woman gave birth to a child, its father strangled
it to avoid its crying, which would endanger everybody. See: Paldiel
op. cit.

Zofia resided in Warsaw. Bluma Gurfinkiel, who lived in the same building, asked Zofia for help. Zofia took her in. Bluma's brother, Lejba and her sister Ita also
used to visit Zofia. When people started to talk that Zofia hides
a Jewess, Zofia placed Bluma with a friend elsewhere. Bluma wrote
in 1988, from the USA, that from Jan 1, 1942 till Sept. 30, 1944, Zofia
maintained her without any compensation and that she is eternally grateful
to her. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

The parish priest at Medenice
, near Drohobycz, with the help of his brother and of the priest Franciszek
Zmarzly, from Raclawice, near Stalowa Wola, saved the life of Judyta Eisenberg,
on the plea of her father Dr. Mayer Eisenberg. He was recognized
in 1979 and his mother in 1991, but neither his brother nor the other priest. See: Kaluski, op. cit.

The Patrzylas family owned
an 8 hectares farm at Stasin, Lublin prov. Mosze Szol Pres escaped
in January 1944 over to the Patrzylas, from the forced labor camp at Budzyn,
a branch of the Majdanek camp, as he knew them before the war. He
found that they harbored already his father Szlama and his younger brother
Chaim. Already in 1950 Mosze stated in Lublin that the Patrzylas
concealed on their farm several Jews from 1941, till July 27, 1944, among
them his father and brother. He enclosed his and their photographs. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Maria and her children had
a 16 hectares farm at Kamionka, near Chelm Lubelski. In the same
village, the Gritzman family (seven persons) was friendly with the Patyras. When
in 1941 the Germans moved the village Jews to ghettos in nearby towns, the
Gritzmans found refuge with the Patyras. Some of the Gritzmans imprudently
appeared in the village. The Germans suspected that the Patyras helped them,
but Menasze Gritzman, the father, categorically denied any help from the Patyras.
For the moment the latter were safe, but Menasze and three of his children
were killed. The Gritzmans helped the Patyras with some work. Once a Volksdeutsh
(Polish citizen who signed as being a German national) Jan K. visited the Patyras
and brought the German police, who exacted the surrender of the Jews. The Germans
put the Patyras against the wall under their rifles, including the 16 years
old Eleonora and her 2 years younger brother Tadeusz and interrogated each
one separately. But not one of them revealed their secret. Following this incident
Tadeusz became gravely ill and died prematurely. The three remaining Gritzmans
joined a partisan group and returned with the Soviet and Polish troops. (Some
of the ca. 1,700,000 Poles deported to Soviet Russia in 1940-41, who were not
able to leave Russia with General Anders, were integrated into the Soviet forces).
The Gritzmans later lived in Chelm and Walbrzych, and in the 50-ties went to
Israel, but maintained contact with the Patyras. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Janina lived in Lodz and
was a housemaid to the Aronson family, well-to-do owners of a textile plant. During the war the Aronsons and Janina fled to Warsaw and she joined them
in the ghetto. The Aronsons went to the Hotel Polski on the "Aryan"
side. This was a famous German ruse: all Jews, instead of receiving
the promised visas to South American countries, were transported to the
Vittel camp in France and from there to concentration camps. Janina
accepted the money of several Jewish families to rent an apartment on the
"Aryan" side, to which they could go, if they managed to escape the ghetto. She rented a three-room apartment to which eleven (11) people moved eventually,
among them the Bund leader, Bernard Goldstein. They stayed in one
room, camouflaged from the rest of the apartment. Janina traveled
to different parts of the city to buy food. In September of 1943
two Gestapo agents raided the apartment twice, looting everything of value,
but did not discover the hideout. Janina had to move her charges
to other places, an abandoned toy store, a darkroom of a photographer,
etc. All had to sleep on the floor, including Janina. The only bed
was given to an elderly woman. All survived. When Janina's
parents died she moved with a Jewish family to Israel in 1956. In
1964 she was one of the first to be recognized as Righteous. See:
Grynberg, op. cit., Paldiel, op. cit.

PAWLIKOWSKI, Helena

Helena concealed in her house
at Srodborow a Jewish couple, Wanda and Rafal Lindner. They
escaped from the Warsaw ghetto. Wanda kept them in her attic for
over one year, till the arrival of the Red Army. Yad Vashem honored
Helena as "Righteous" on Jan. 14, 1999 in Warsaw, according to an announcement
of the Israeli Embassy in Poland.

Wanda lived in Radom, in
which town 32% of the population was Jewish. In October 1942 the
Germans deported Jews to Treblinka and other camps. On the Pawlowskis'
farm there was a fish farm, which had dried out. In it, Wanda left
food for the Jews. Once she found an unconscious man near the pond. With the help of her father she brought him home. He was Bernard
Ajdels and he stayed with the Pawlowskis. In the ghetto there remained
his parents, to whom Wanda used to bring food. She got false documents
for Bernard. But in 1943 the Gestapo arrested both of them. During the interrogation she suffered so badly, that she was placed in
a prison hospital and from it she was transferred to a regular one. After 4 months, with the help of a Catholic nun, she managed to flee and
lived hence in hiding. Bernard was taken to Auschwitz, and later
to Sachsenhausen. When he returned to Radom he married Wanda. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Doctor Pagowski was one of
54 physicians in Warsaw who cooperated with the Coordinating Committee
of Democratic and Socialist Doctors, active in the years 1940-1944. Its members organized resistance to the orders of the Germans, counteracting
their propaganda, collected materials on their criminal medical practices,
prepared the nationalization of medicine in the future liberated Poland,
cared for the wounded of the underground and provided medical care to Jews,
in and outside of the ghetto. Several of them specialized in diminishing
their Semitic characteristics and obliterating signs of circumcision. The Committee published a medical journal called ABC, which every few weeks
reached ca. 100 various medical centers. To that Committee belonged
six medical students and seven nurses, among them one Maria Pagowski, possibly
daughter of Dr. Jadwiga. For more information about the Committee
look under the names of Drs: Kanabus, Feliks and Irena, Rostkowski, Ludwik,
Trojanowski, Andrzej Rutkiewicz, Jan and Natalia, and Widy-Wirski, Feliks. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit. and Prekerowa, op. cit.

The Pelikans resided in Warsaw. Jan,Lucyna's husband, was taken prisoner of war and he spent all the occupation
in Germany. Her son, Zbigniew, was a member of the resistance. In May 1943 his colleague presented him Nina Rajnic, asking for his help. Nina came from Lodz but during the occupation she
was in the Warsaw ghetto from which she escaped during its Uprising (1943). Zbigniew, with the consent of his mother, took Nina into their home. Nina's brother, Rudolf, – (after the war a professor of the Lodz University)
– also
came often to their house. In the Warsaw Uprising (1944) the Pelicans' villa
burnt down and Lucyna with Nina and Rudolf left the burning capital for the country
where they saw the end of the German occupation. In 1946 Nina settled in Stockholm, finished there her medical studies and
invited Zbigniew in 1985 for a visit. At the Israeli Embassy of Sweden
he received the medal "Righteous Among Nations" for himself and also, posthumously,
for his mother. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

The Petri family lived in
Wawer, near Warsaw. From the fall of 1942 till Sept. 11, 1944 they
harbored in their household the Szapiro family known to them from before
the war: Kaufman, Ela and their sons Jerzy and Marek. Stefan built
for himself and his family a small hiding place in the cellar, which one
could enter from a cabinet in the laundry room. In the spring of
1942 Stefan conducted to this hiding place the Shapiros when they escaped
the ghetto with the help of a friend, Irena Wroblewski. Two police
searches with dogs of their house proved futile, as Stefan spilled throughout
the cellar a nicotine powder, so that the dogs were unable to sniff out
the fugitives. With this experience Stefan built another shelter,
under the cellar, with access through a bench work. The fugitives
stayed in it at night and during the day they could stay in the apartment,
except for the period July till Sept. 11, the day of liberation of Praga
(a suburb of Warsaw). In 1980 Jerzy Szapiro a professor of medicine
in Warsaw stated that Stefan demonstrated not only total disinterestedness,
but also a particular kind of courage and moral strength, which did not
yield to threats and pressures. His brother Marek resides in the
USA. See. Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit., Grynberg, op.
cit. and Lukas, Out of the Inferno, op. cit.

PEDOWSKI, Helena
PEDOWSKI, Mieczyslaw, son
PEDOWSKI, Hanna, daughter

Helena Pedowski, a 78 years
old grandmother took part in the extracting from the ghetto of the Szper
couple and the woman pharmacist Romana Zamenhof, relative of the famous
creator of the Esperanto language. She did it with the help of her
grandson, Karol Pedowski, who was a lawyer and Tadeusz Rek (q.v.). Helena played
the main part in making contact with the refugees in the building of the Schultz
workshop in the ghetto and the exit on the "Aryan"
side on the Ogrodowa Street. Suddenly some blackmailers cornered
the fugitives. Szper opened his wallet to pay them off; one of them
grabbed it so greedily, that several 500 zlotys banknotes (a hefty sum)
were taken far away by the gutsy wind and the extortionists rushed after
them. The fugitives took a horse-drawn cab deciding to return to
the ghetto. The cabman was decent enough to go as slowly as possible. Another
blackmailer jumped into the cub, but when it became dark he, fortunately, disappeared
in the darkness. Changing cabs twice, the fugitives reached the address given
to them beforehand by the young Karol, in the Zoliborz suburb, where they stayed
for a year and a half. Helena brought them regularly food and her grandson registered
them with Zegota for steady help. When even that shelter became "hot" (dangerous)
Rek transferred them to another apartment in the Wola suburb. Thanks to those
four (of whom Karol had not been recognized) and to the lucidity of the cabman,
all survived. See: Prekerowa, op. cit.

PEKALSKI, Franciszek

PEKALA-KOZIOL, Genowefa (1908-)

Genowefa resided at Dabrowka
Tucholska, Tarnow prov. During the occupation she took care of Salomon
Blasenstein from Tuchowa, who knew Genowefa's brother, Zygmunt Pekala,
from school. Salomon fled to Lvov, then to Cracow and asked for Genowefa's
help. The latter got from the parish priest, Litwinski, a birth certificate,
which enabled him to take the position of manager of an estate at Slupce. When he was threatened there Genowefa placed him with her brother, Zygmunt. Under his fictional name, Salomon got even the position of a commune secretary. After the war he settled in the USA. Zygmunt is not recognized as
"Righteous" up to now. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

PEPIAK, Julia

Julia lived in Belzec. The Germans entered Lvov in 1941 and started to kill and deport Jews. From the Helman family the only one who remained was the 29 years old Salomea
with her daughter Bronia (3). A local gravedigger took them to Belzec
, where she was born. He left her before the house of Julia, telling
her that Julia is a good person and she might help her. Julia was
terrified: in her house stayed two slaughterers from the nearby Jewish
extermination camp, at Belzec, and searches often took place. Suddenly
it came to her mind that the Jewish mother with her child, pleading with
her eyes for rescue, is the Holy Mother Mary who with her son Jesus is
trying to escape from the henchmen of Herod. She took both home and
they survived. Salomea once fell in the hands of the Ukrainians,
but then she was saved from them by another Pole, Zygmunt Nowosielski,
the commune secretary. See: Kaluski, Marian, op cit. and Prus, Edward:
"Holocaust po banderowsku"

PIASECKI, Leopold

PIASECKI, Ludwika (not related) PIATEK, Stefan
PIATEK, Anna, wife

PIATKOWSKI, Hipolit Ludwik
(1899-1989)

A farmer's son, Hipolit,
officer of the First World War, invalid, was the manager of a textile workshop
in Warsaw. He employed there several Jews, sheltered others coming
from different parts of Poland, like Lodz, Lvov, and Vilna. Others
he extracted from the ghetto, protecting them by military means, especially
the insurgents from the burning ghetto. He saved thus his Jewish
wife and some members of her family. Thanks to his family and business
connections from before the war he received, already towards the end of
1939, many offers from Jews to take possession of their shops and that
of different branches of industry, especially from Lodz, where he helped
those driven out by the occupants. This taking over had two forms:
of co-operatives or of renting machines and installations. In cases
of rent the owner received the payment in dollars, or zlotys, according
to the value of the dollar on the free market, at the prices current before
the war. In cases of co-operatives, a percent for each party was
established by mutual accord. The Jewish partner remained with his
workers in the workshop, as a worker himself, and could keep an eye on
his property. Thus Piatkowski took over and organized 20 workshops,
mostly in the ghetto, giving work and means of survival to over 1,000 Jews. In 1968 one of the Jews saved, H. R. wrote: "Many Jews also benefited from
his disinterested help . up to Hipolit's arrest on April, 1942 and after
his release from the prison in February 1944. Among his protégés
were my brother, Edmund Raduszewski, (who died after the war) my sister
Heda Kon, our brother-in-law Mieczyslaw Kon with his wife and daughter
and many others. At the end of 1941 he organized the transfer of
Borys Dniestrowski with his wife, from Lvov to Warsaw. I also know
that these acts of help were completely disinterested and all material
things put in his care by my relatives and acquaintances were solicitously
maintained and always at the disposal of their lawful owners". See:
Bednarczyk: Zycie codzienne...op. cit. and Grynberg, op. cit.

Maria, her son Piotr and
his wife, also Maria, farmed at Srogow Dolny, near Sanok, Krosno prov. They knew many Jews, among them Ryfka and Jakub Babad, who had a textile
store. In 1942 the Babad family escaped from the Sanok ghetto. Two daughters and a son crossed the San River to go to the East; the parents
came to the Piecuchs. The decision to take them in was difficult
as they had a 2 years old son. Neither could they trust with their secret
their farmhand. Nevertheless they accepted them. Piotr arranged
a hideout on top of the stable. The two Marias provided them with
food and took out the waste, at night or when the men were in the fields. Germans came often searching for grain, pigs, etc. and the Piecuchs lived
in continuous fear of discovery. The Babads consoled them that in
their Bible it is written that they will be saved and free. After
the war they left for the USA and maintain contact with the Piecuchs. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Artur gave refuge to two
women: Ela Zlotnik and Rifka Szaniecka. On April 18, 1944 the Gestapo
arrested him for that and dispatched him to the Stuthoff concentration
camp. He was killed there in 1945. Yad Vashem awarded him posthumously
with the medal "Righteous Among the Nations". He was mentioned here
in the list of "Those who paid with their life".

Jerzy managed the office
of the Shoemakers Guild in Warsaw. Together with Jakub Marek, the
president of the Warsaw Artisans' Chamber, he helped in the exchange of
raw materials and finished products between the "Aryan" side of Warsaw
and the ghetto. He encouraged the shoemakers to cooperate with the
ghetto artisans. See: Bednarczyk, Zycie Codzienne., op. cit.

From his statement made before
justice Zurawinski on May 29, 1970, in Miedzyrzec Poznan prov., we learn
that he lived in Vilna. At the end of October 1943 there came to
his apartment the Jews Buwilskis and Stanhauer and informed him that they
were told to vacate their previous place of hiding and asked him to take
them in. After a long discussion and consideration he decided to
help them. They arranged a hideout under the floor. Jan lived
in a cellar on the Ostrobramska Street 25. In this building all the
other floors were occupied by the German headquarter of the Luftwaffe (Air
force). Anna Buwilski prepared meals from food procured by Jan's
wife. The fact of harboring Jews was kept in secret, even from his
wife's parents. The Buwilskis slept in their hideout and he with
his wife above them. After a few weeks, late at night, the janitor
brought two German officers, who were very astonished that although all
the civilians were thrown out of that building, the Pietkuns, Poles, were
still living there. They told Jan that in 3 days he must move. Jan invited them to table and during the meal he asked them to prolong
the term to two weeks and to give him a cart with soldiers to help in the
transfer. The officers agreed. He found a new apartment on
Zawalna Street 54 and he prepared a new hideout for the Jews under the
stairs. And so with the German military cart, with German soldiers
and with the Jews who supposedly he hired to help, they moved to the new
location. Here the Buwilskis had a radio - (Germans confiscated all
the radios and listening to it was under the threat of death penalty) -and
listened to all the foreign broadcasts, as the engineer Buwilski knew Russian,
German and French. Jan forwarded the precious news to the secret
press agency in Vilna, to Prof. Ignacy Swirski. Thus Jan harbored
the Buwilskis until the Soviets occupied Vilna. His protégés
returned to Poland, and then through Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Italy
reached Tell-Aviv. In 1962 Jan went to Israel at their invitation. Jan's wife was not recognized. See: Wronski & Zwolakowa, op.
cit.

Brother and sister occupied
a small house belonging to their family in Warsaw. They helped to
survive four (4) Jews: especially Edwarda Szulman with her 9 years old
son. Stefania gave them the birth certificate of her sister and her
sister's son, the Horodeckis, who at that time were in Vilna. Edwarda
died in Warsaw in 1971 and her son settled in France. Further Ignacy
Rozenkranc, friend of their parents before the war and young Henryk Karolicki
spent the occupation years under the roof of the Pietrows. Stefania
had to pay blackmailers who, fortunately, had been satisfied with the money. Ignacy died in Lublin in 1953 and Henryk went to South America. See:
Grynberg, op. cit.

Zygmunt started to help Jews
since the establishment of the Warsaw ghetto. In 1942 he helped the
Keningsweins, Szmul and Regina, to flee the ghetto with their three sons:
5 years old Miecio, 3 years old Stefcio and a few month old Stas. At nighttime the parents, after bribing the Blue Police, climbed over the
wall, near Okopowa Street. The sleeping children were transported
in sacks. The fugitives were placed with Kazimierz Racik, except
for the baby who was placed at the Baudouin orphanage in Warsaw. Zygmunt visited them regularly. Because of the threat of denunciation,
Zygmunt put his charges under the care of Dr. Jan Zabinski (q.v.), director
of the Zoological Garden in Warsaw and of Feliks Cywinski (q.v.). The Kenigsweins survived the occupation and retrieved their youngest son
from the orphanage. In 1948 Szmul died in Lodz and his wife with
the children settled in Israel. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Aleksandra, with her sons
and two daughters, Aleksandra Halina and Alicja (10 and 8) lived in Warsaw. From November 1942 till the end of the German occupation she harbored in
her apartment Jaffa Ilutowicz, and also for many months Jaffa's brother,
Hersz and his wife Sima. Jaffa settled in Israel, and Hersz with
his wife went to the USA. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Jadwiga Piotrowski lived
in Warsaw in her parents' house, with a small garden and two exits, which
was a great asset in her work. She worked in the Social Welfare Department
of the City of Warsaw, in close cooperation with Irena Sendler (q.v.) from
Zegota. She was the right hand of Jan Dobraczynski (q.v.) and co-operated
with Izabela Kuczkowski and her mother Kazimiera Trzaskalski, Jadwiga Grabowski,
Irena Schultz (q.v.), Wanda Drozdowski-Rogowicz, Lucyna Franciszkiewicz,
Wincenty Ferster, Helena Maluszynski, Halina Nowak and her mother Franciszka
Nowak, Stanislawa Bussold (q.v.) and others. She particularly helped
Jewish children, either extracted from the ghetto, or those who fled it
by themselves, keeping them temporarily in her house, or placing them with
Polish families, orphanages and Catholic convents. In her house ca.
50 such children found refuge. Some needed false documents, others
food, garments, medical care, or money for the substitute families or to
pay the blackmailers who threatened them. Zegota provided regular
stipends of 850-900 zlotys for such Jewish children. The number of
children helped by all these people amounted to ca 2,500, of whom only
two boys were murdered. Jadwiga's work did not lack its dramatic
moments. Once she had in her house several Jewish children when two
parties of Germans started to search all the houses on her street, one
from one end, and the other from the other end. Jadwiga held above
the stove the list of names of the children, ready to throw it in the fire,
as soon as the Germans would enter her house; she just kept praying together
with the children. Incredibly the Germans missed that one house,
believing that it was already searched. As her supervisor recounted after
the war, when it was a question of Jewish children, for Jadwiga there were
no difficult or impossible tasks. She was always the first, valiant
and fearless. Only 4 from the 13 mentioned here (q.v.) had been recognized. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit.,Grynberg, op. cit., Kurek,
op. cit. and Prekerowa, op. cit.

Kazimierz, Waleria and Wilhelmina
lived in Przemysl. From 1942 till the end of the German occupation
in 1944 they harbored in their house Sala Doppelt and her three sons: Maksymilian,
Oskar and Zygmunt, as well as Zygmunt Gerber, whose wife and two children
were murdered in the ghetto. Sala died after the war in Przemysl
and her sons went to France. Zygmunt Gerber joined the Polish Army
and fell in the battle for Kolobrzeg. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Wladyslaw, a farmer, resided
at Leka, Nowy Korczyn district, Kielce prov., with his wife Wladyslawa-Marianna,
sons Jozef and Waclaw and daughter Janina. From May 1942 till Jan.
14, 1945 they sheltered Izrael Weinbaum from Nowy Korczyn. In November his 5 years
old son Albert joined his father. He had been hidden before elsewhere. Izrael's wife, Lola, also hidden before in another place, went on to join
them. Izrael Weinbaum wrote from Australia in 1988 that they owe
their life to the Piwowarczyks and to their children, who shared with them
the last piece of bread. It seems that the other members of the Piwowarczyk
family have not been recognized up to now. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

The Pizios lived with their
daughter, Maria Dzugala (q.v.) and son-in-law Wladyslaw Dzugala (q.v.)
at Podkamieniec, Zloczow district. The schoolmate of Maria, Regina
Hoder, escaped from the Rohatyn ghetto in 1942, during the massacre of
the Jewish population. She remained under the care of the Pizios
till the end of the war. She settled in the USA and maintained contact
with her benefactors. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Tadeusz was a research worker
and lived with his family at Starachowice. German army units occupied
the big garden adjacent to his house. Mindla Binsztok, who knew Helena,
came to her after escaping the ghetto before its liquidation in 1944. Helena swiftly pushed her into a closet under the stairs. At night
the couple led Mindla to another place, which also was not safe. In two days the Plusas found another arrangement. Having two goats,
they separated them and dug a hole between the two shacks and covered it
with straw, grass and hay for the animals. Mindla remained there till the
fall. Helena placed Mindla in her own, Mindla's home, which before
had housed a beer-bottling shop, in a specially prepared space, in which
she stayed till the end of the German occupation. Mindla left for
Canada, and in 1965 she sent a document, as a sign of her gratitude, transferring
the ownership of half of her house to the Plusas, the other half to Agata
Lukasiewicz, who also helped her, but was not recognized. See: Grynberg,
op. cit.

Malgorzata lived at Szadek. The ghetto in Szadek was established in June 1940 and liquidated in August
1942, by deporting its 500 Jews to the Chelmno on Ner (River) extermination
camp. From January 1942 till the end of the German occupation she
concealed in her apartment Ewa Krotowski from Szadek, who after the war
emigrated to the USA. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

PODGAJNY, Mieczyslaw ((1918-)
PODGAJNY-PRACKI, Otylia
((1907-) sister

Brother and sister resided
in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski where they knew many Jews. During the
occupation they moved to Warsaw, to a modest apartment consisting of one
room and a cellar. Not having the possibility of concealing Jews
in their home, they helped many from Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski to find other
shelters, to get false identification, or even employment. They helped
Jakir and Jente Czernikowski and their daughters, Barbara and Frumka, Stanislaw
Holanski, Marian Kargul, Mrs. Werwejel with her daughter, Wanda Zylberdrut
with her daughter. So Wanda got work as a manicurist and Henryk Leszczynski
as a driver in a German business. Stanislaw and Marian were able,
thanks to Mieczyslaw's connections, to cross the frontier into Czechoslovakia
and Hungary, safer at that time. At the turn of 1943 and 1944 Mieczyslaw
was arrested under the suspicion of hiding Jews, but luckily he escaped
from the prison. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

PODGORSKI-BURZMINSKI, Stefania PODGORSKI, Helena, younger
sister

The Podgorski sisters lived
in Przemysl. At that time Stefania was 16 and Helena 6 years old.
They lived alone, because their father had died and their mother and brother
were taken to Germany for forced labor. Stefania worked as a machine-tool
operator. Joseph Burzminski, the son of a previous employer of Stefania,
escaped with his brother and cousin from the train to Belzec. He
came to Stefania and asked permission to spend one night, telling: "I swear
I will go tomorrow." Stefania was terrified, but she acquiesced. Her mother, Katarzyna, had instilled in her a strong sense of duty to others. "We are all children of the same God", she told her. But Joseph remained. He sneaked into he ghetto and found his younger brother Henek and Henek's
wife Danuta, Dr. William Shylenger and his daughter Judy, and a friend
of his, a dentist with his son. Joseph organized for himself a false
document to be able to move and sneak food to the others. But he
lost his card and asked Stefania to accept the others. Stefania rented
a semi-detached cottage with two rooms, a kitchen and an attic on Tatarska
Street. Stefania, Helena and Joseph moved first, then Dr. Shylenger
with his daughter and the dentist with his son. The dentist's friend,
a widow from the ghetto wanted to come also with her son and daughter. In case she was refused, she wrote in her note, she might denounce them. Stefania, angrily, accepted them also. The dentist begged her to
admit his nephew with his wife. Henek, Joseph's younger brother with
his wife arrived later, finally there came a Jewish mailman: 13 Jews to
hide, feed and save. Stefania bought some boards and Joseph made
a wall in the attic. The 13 could sleep in this very small space
lying like sardines. Then an SS man moved next door. Joseph
kept vigil with others to exclude any noises, including snoring. One young man, attracted to the blond and beautiful Stefania, started visiting
her daily. To discourage him she put on the wall a photograph of
a German officer, telling him that he is her new boyfriend. The dentist's
widowed friend came down with typhus; in fever she rushed unconsciously
screaming into the street. Stefania with great difficulty led her
inside. After a few weeks they were completely without money. Stefania started to knit sweaters and taking orders for them from her friends
and acquaintances, buying food, if necessary, on the black market. Toward the end of 1943 Stefania saw the bodies of some Jews and the Polish
family who concealed them, all shot. A few months later a German
officer entered the apartment and announced that Stefania and her sister
must vacate the place in two hours. Joseph was ready to die fighting,
but Stefania opted for prayer. "Let's all pray". Joseph agreed. The fugitives begged the two sisters to flee, as they felt that they all
are doomed. But Stefania thought otherwise. "I am not leaving
you", she said. "Everything will be all right". The officer
reappeared telling that after all he is taking one room only, for two nurses
of the military hospital, opposite the house. A week later the nurses
came and at night brought with them German soldiers for company. One afternoon the two nurses came home with two armed soldiers. One
of the nurses started to mount on the ladder to the attic, but, somehow,
she desisted from her plan to search the attic and the soldiers departed. The fugitives were hungry. The manager of the factory in which Stefania
worked, announced that the factory was moving to Germany as well as the
hospital opposite their house. The nurses enticed Stefania to go
with them. She could not refuse them and promised to do so, but when
they were already on the bus, she called: "I have changed my mind. I am
not going. Auf Wiedersehen!" (Good-by!) Soon after the Soviet Army
occupied Przemysl. The 13 Jews, although emaciated and weak, were
free. In 1945 Joseph proposed to Stefania. "You asked me to
stay one night" she teased him "now you want to make it a lifetime?" In 1961 the couple immigrated to the USA, where Joseph is a dentist. They have a son and a daughter. Helena also married, studied medicine
and is a physician in Wroclaw, Poland. See: Lukas, Did the children
Cry, op. cit. and the article by Thomas Fleming in Reader's Digest of February
1996.

PODKOWINSKI, Zofia

Zofia Podkowinski, archeologist,
then a research worker in the National Museum, later a Professor Emeritus
was, called also "The Second Zofia". "The First Zofia" was probably
the librarian Zofia Rodziewicz, whom mentioned Adolf Berman, activist of
Left Poale-Zion, representing the Jewish National Committee (ZKN) in ZEGOTA. Adolf Berman mentions also among those helping Jews at the risk of their
life: Antonina Roguska, who specialized in finding jobs for Jewish women,
Mrs. Wyrub, Mrs. Petkowska, Roza Zawadzka, Stanislaw Papuzinski (q.v.)
Irena Sendler (q.v.), Maria Laska, who working in the Record Office, manipulated
documents, Julia Miller, Irena Morsztynkiewicz. None of them, except
Papuzinski and Sendler, are recognized. These names are only of people
working in some social institutions. Adolf Berman mentions many others
who distinguished themselves in help to Jews. Zofia Podkowinski with
Irena Sawicki (q.v.) and Nina Assorodobraj formed the trio called the "The
Three Graces". They created a home for all those who needed help,
protection and reassurance and through it went an unending stream of such
people. Especially on Sundays the three women offered their guests
unsweetened coffee with rye pies baked by Zofia without fat and pumpkin
preserves with syrup. But the table was laid with embroidered cloth
and fine porcelain, so that all these refugees could relax in a home atmosphere,
talk, borrow books. The three women kept also all the archives of
the Jewish organizations. In this flat up and even during the Ghetto
Uprising there met with the Poles Icchak Cukierman ("Antek") and Adolf
Berman, representatives of the fighters. All this described Colonel
Narbutt in "Peoples and Events". See: the account of Basia Temkin-Berman
("Basia"), Adolf Berman's wife, probably the most active from the Jewish
side, entitle: "The First Irena" about Irena Sawicki (q.v.) in Bartoszewski
& Lewin, op. cit.

The Podsiadlos farmed at
Siedliszczki, commune of Piaski. The Germans established the Piaski
ghetto in 1941, which they liquidated in 1942 and in 1943. They transported
the Jews to the Sobibor extermination camp. Kurt Ticho, a Jew from
Czechoslovakia, fled from the ghetto; he was among the 300 inmates who
had rebelled against their oppressors. He came to the Podsiadlos,
whom he knew before, as he was sent from the Piaski ghetto to work on their
farm. When he came to them on October 18, 1943, telling Stanislaw
that he came to save his life, the latter took him to the stable, brought
him food and a blanket. The next day he placed him in the loft of
the stable, where Kurt spent the following nine months, till the Red Army
arrival in July 1944. Kurt attested in 1985, that he was treated
like a member of the family, without any compensation. He wrote that
the Podsiadlos brought him food three times a day and took out the bucket
with waste, as he did not leave his hideout. He was deeply grateful
to them for saving his life. See: Grynberg, op. cit

The physician couple lived
during the occupation with their baby girl at Szyrwinty, a Lithuanian village
near Vilna. Emilia was a courier for the resistance, AK, and visited
often in Vilna her elder sister, Maria Fedecki (q.v.) who helped Jews. In Vilna there resided the engineer Don Komaj, with his wife, Maria, and
his daughter Pola, both physicians. They hid for a certain time with a
forester but when that became dangerous, Wincenty Aloszko (q.v.) brought
Dr. Maria Komaj to Maria Fedecka, who placed her with her sister Emilia,
as a nurse to their baby girl. In the meantime the engineer Don Komaj
was killed. Although the maid of the Pogorzelskis suspected that
Dr. Komaj was a Jewess, the latter lived with the Pogorzelskis till the
entrance of the Soviets in Vilna. Her daughter, Dr. Pola Wagner stated
in 1986 that finding a hideout for her mother was like a gift from heaven. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

POKORSKI, Katarzyna (1897-1976)
POKORSKI, Stanislaw (1921-)
son

Katarzyna was a poor farmer
with seven children at Podwierzbie, Garwolin district. After roaming
in the fields and the forest, Abram Prajs, who escaped the transport to
Treblinka came to her. He got a hiding place, in which he hid in
moments of danger. Some people asked Katarzyna to get rid of the
Jew. She, of course, denied keeping any. Abram remained with
them till the end of the war. During two years he was maintained
completely by the Pokorskis. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

POKROPEK, Jan (1911-)
POKROPEK, Jozefa (1908-1977)

The couple lived at Biskupice,
not far from Pruszkow. The sister of Jozefa, Maria Borkowski (1895-)
and her husband Eustachy (1892-1944) (q. v.) harbored a Jew, Mieczyslaw
Pieprz and his daughter Janina, both under the fictional name of Wolynski. In August of 1944 Maria Borkowski brought Mieczyslaw and Janina, asking
her sister to take over the care of them. Father and daughter stayed
with them till their liberation. After the war they went to Lodz
and from there to France. But they did not forget their saviors. Janina stated in 1986 that the shelter and upkeep received from the Pokropeks
was gratuitous and entirely disinterested. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

POKRYWKA, Wiktoria
POKRYWKA, Stanislaw, son,
(brother?)

Wiktoria, a laundress, lived
in Lvov. She hid seven (7) Jews in her apartment. Soon there
was no money to feed them and starvation set in. First died the grandfather
of Clara Eintov. Stanislaw buried him in the cellar. Two months
later died her grandmother, who seeing the problems involved, asked before
death, that her body be burned in the stove, what was done. "We kept
her ashes in a bowl", Clara stated. From the seven refugees only three
returned to health and strength. See: Paldiel, op. cit.

POLANSKI-OKON, Jozefa
POLANSKI, Stanislawa (sister)

Stanislawa lived on the estate
Krajenka, commune of Zlotow, with her father and brother, also Stanislaw. In 1942 the Fischbein family of fifteen (15) members were concealed at
the sawmill of the Grodzickis at Bzianka. In June of 1942 German
gendarmes appeared with a list of names of people to be deported. The name of the Fischbeins was on that list. The Fischbeins managed
to escape before the country wagon sent for them by the Germans arrived. Stanislaw promised to meet them at the Wislok River in the evening. He brought them food, with the help of his sister, Stanislawa and tried
to encourage them. He implored his father to find for them a safe
place, with the foresters, with whom he worked. However, this lasted
several days. In the meantime Stanislaw, who knew all the possible
hiding-places around on the meadows and old riverbeds, placed them as he
could. But the food brought them several times a day did not suffice,
the children were crying, especially because heavy rains drenched them
completely. Three people headed by the forester Siwak came to the
estate to take the Fischbeins toward Zmienica. Stanislaw, with his
brother-in-law, Jan Szafran, had to lead them, as only he knew where they
were hidden. As it was pouring, the water flooded all the ditches
and it was necessary to wade chest deep to reach them. They found
the Fischbeins exhausted and resigned. But they arrived to Siwak's
home safely. Stanislaw maintained contact with them, went to the
ghetto, brought from it things they needed and some children for which
he found places with different families. Through the intermediary
of the engineer Stacherak from Krosno, the Fischbeins were hidden in that
town until their liberation. All survived. This is the abbreviated
story by Stanislaw Polanski. He and the others are not recognized. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit.

POLECHAJLLO, Aniela, a nun
"Sister Stanislawa"

Sister Stanislawa was the
superior of the convent at Turkowice, of the Congregation of Sisters Servants
of Mary Immaculate. Several dozens of Jewish children were harbored
in that convent, 32 from Warsaw alone, according to the priest Michal Kot. The superior had an understanding with the Council for Aid to Jews and
its Children Department, headed by Irena Sendler (q.v.) and with Jadwiga
Piotrowski (q.v) who tried to find those who needed this refuge the most. Once Jadwiga Deneko (q.v.) asked the Sisters to transfer one of the children,
Katarzyna Meloch, to another convent, feeling endangered herself. Sister Polechajllo replied her: "No, we will erase her name from the list
of children in the convent, but she will remain with us". So from
that moment, wrote later Katarzyna Meloch, the Sisters were doubly endangered:
first because they kept a Jewess and second because this Jewess did not
appear on the list. See Grynberg, op. cit., Kurek, op. cit., Lukas,
op. cit. "Did the Children Cry" and Prekerowa, op cit.

Dr. Popowski was one of the
54 members participating in the Committee of Democratic and Socialist Doctors. This secret Coordinating Committee was established in Warsaw in 1940 and
acted till 1944. It was an independent association, to which belonged
prominent representatives of the medical profession. There
also belonged to it six medical students and seven nurses. All their
names appear in the Bartoszewski's & Lewin's book, so often quoted
here. Its aim was resistance to the occupant, counteracting Nazi
propaganda, collecting materials about the German criminal practices in
the medical service, and planning the future nationalized medicine in Poland. Its doctors gave medical care to the wounded in fighting, hid and helped
Jews outside the ghetto, provided aid to the ghetto and issued forged documents
to Jews. From the end of 1941 till the spring of 1944 every few weeks
the Committee issued a bulletin "Abecadlo Lekarskie" (Medical ABC) which
was distributed to hospitals, nursing homes, etc. This secret publication
appealed to Polish doctors not to take over the work of their Jewish colleagues
without first coming to an agreement with them. Here is one quote
from it: "Enlightened Poles and Jews ought to see in each other allies
in the fight against their common enemy. All racism and its inhuman methods
must be alien to the doctor, whose fundamental duty is to come to the aid
of his fellow-men, regardless of race or nationality." - The Popowskis
hid in their home several Jewish doctors. Among them was professor Henryk
Brokman and Janina Sterling, daughter of a Lodz physician, Seweryn Sterling. They harbored also Bianka Perelmuter (14), a schoolmate of their daughter
Hanna. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Rozalia and her sister Jozefa
Hankus (Hankes ?) (q.v.) were sisters of Krystyna Wawak (q.v.) married
to Ignacy Wawak (q.v.) in the village of Bujakow, near Bielsko-Biala. This family saved seven Jews, in particular Adela Zawadzka and her child,
Elek Jakubowicz and her brother Marian. For details of this story
look under Wawak Ignacy and Krystyna in Grynberg, op. cit.

Count Jerzy Potocki and his
wife Maria resided at their estate Borek Szlachecki, near Cracow. Many Jews benefited from their help. Bronislaw Szatyn, the administrator
of the estate, whose Jewish identity was first unknown to them, remained
even after they learned about his secret. He had to leave the estate
but continued to get help from them. The Potockis harbored also Maria
Friede from Skawina, who came to them thanks to Szatyn. She was hidden
in the granary and the countess watched all the time over it to prevent
somebody discovering its inhabitant. Also Boleslaw Szkraba stayed
there over a year as an agrarian trainee and Waleria Lisek with her son,
employed as a housemaid. Bronislaw Szatyn, now in the USA wrote a
book "Na Aryjskich Papierach" (On Aryan papers) published by the Wydawnictwo
Literackie in Cracow in 1983. He, as well as Maria Friede, stated
in 1984 that especially the countess demonstrated the highest human attitude
and an uncommon heroism in helping the persecuted. See: Grynberg,
op. cit.

The family lived in Warsaw. Jan Potrzebowski was a janitor. He helped thirteen (13) Jewish persons,
placing some with his neighbors and acquaintances, others in his building. Here he arranged two hideouts: one over and the other under the elevator. The Jews saved were: Bronislawa Ajzenband, Misza Goldblum, the physician
Eugenia Geszychter, Maria Geszychter and her daughter, Hanna, Maria Goldblum,
the Goldzand sisters, Roma and Dora, Krystyna Lastreger, Natalia Mochorowski,
Bronislawa Norowicz, Jakub Reichman, and Henryk Zajdman. Natalia
Mochorowski was a courier for the Jewish National Committee; she met in
the Potrzebowskis' apartment with Dawid Guzik, the representative of the
JOINT (Jewish organization abroad). She stated from New
York in 1964 that there was not one case in which Jan would refuse help
to a Jewish person. He took care of all of them like a father. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Teresa lived in Warsaw. She knew The Jewish woman Alina Wolman. Teresa used to bring food
and encouragement to the Wolman family in the ghetto. She got out
of it Alina, returning there several times for her belongings, and found
her work as a teacher with landed gentry in the Lublin Province. When the 3rd Reich invaded the Soviet Russia, Alina returned to Warsaw
and continued to benefit from Teresa's help in finding an apartment and
work. In the fall of 1941 Teresa helped to save a 4 years old girl,
whom she found crying and miserable on the street. She took her home
and later placed her with the Felician Sisters. The child survived. In July 1942 Teresa helped Alina's parents and brother to get over the
ghetto wall and settled them on the Aryan side. From January till
September 1943 Teresa harbored in Skolimowo, in her husband's apartment,
a Jew under the fictional name of Jan Zielinski. Alina confirmed
the above in her statement already in 1967. Teresa Prekerowa wrote
the book mentioned in the bibliography: "Konspiracyjna Rada Pomocy
Zydom w Warszawie, 1942-1945." Warsaw, PIW, 1982. This book
about RPZ, called Zegota, appeared in French and soon will appear in English. See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit. and Grynberg, op cit.

The Prus family farmed in
the village of Peslawice, community Lipnia, Kielce prov.
Leon and Marian Czernikowski,
two brothers who escaped from the forced labor camp in Sandomierz, asked
their acquaintances, Wladyslaw and his family, for shelter, which they
obtained. In 1983 Marian wrote from Canada to Poland that they were
hidden and fed by the Prus family from August 1943 till August 1944 and
that without any payment. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Helena Przebindowski was
the sister of Stanislaw Kowalczyk and took into her home one of the twin
girls Allerhand. She is described under the name of the family Kwiatek,
Franciszek, his wife Maria and their son Ryszard. (q.v.) See: Isakiewicz,
op. cit.

The Przenioslo family farmed
on 8 hectares in the village of Cieszkowy, Kielce prov. In May 1941
the occupier established the Wislica ghetto, supplied by the polluted water
of the Nida River. The ghetto was liquidated in October 1942, by
transporting the Jews to Jedrzejow and then to Treblinka. It was
probably at that time that there escaped five (5) persons of the Dzialoszycki
family, owners of a textile shop: Abram and Salomea with their 8 years
old daughter, Regina and their 5 years old son, Izrael. The other
members of the family joined them some time later as well as Mosze Kliger,
also from Wislica - altogether twelve (12) persons. At the beginning
they were hidden in the barn, but this being not too safe, the Przenioslos
built a bunker for 12 people under the pantry. They worked at nighttime
exclusively and spread the soil on the fields. The persons harbored
did not have any money. They asked the Przenioslos to go to the village
of Jurkow, to a man named Sokolowski, who kept their textiles for safe
keeping. The Przenioslos could take them from him and sell them for
food. When Wladyslaw and his mother were returning with this cloth,
an unknown man robbed them, but the Przenioslos continued to keep the 12
people, as before. In July 1944 when one of the persons harbored
wanted to meet the approaching Soviets, he got out of the shelter and was
killed by a German bullet. The other Dzialoszyckis went to the USA
and Israel. In 1986 some of them and especially Regina replied to
an announcement in the "Folks-Sztyme" (a Yiddish weekly) in Warsaw in 1986,
providing information on their saviors. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Apolonia lived in Warsaw
on Pawia Street and had to move elsewhere when it was incorporated into
the Warsaw ghetto. When still living on Pawia, she befriended Gerszon
Szarfsztejn and the Guz family, who returned to the town of Minsk Mazowiecki,
from which they came. Apolonia visited them there frequently, helping
them in many ways. She led out of the ghetto the Guz's father and
brother and brought them to Minsk Mazowiecki. She also tried to extricate
from the Radzyn Podlaski ghetto Szarfsztejns's mother, but unfortunately
a day before she was transported to another ghetto. In November 1942
she took an 8 days baby from Mrs. Guz and placed it in the Baudouin orphanage. Both mother and girl survived. In August 1942 Germans took the Jews
from the Minsk Mazowiecki to Treblinka and among them was Gerszon's father
with his 7 years old son and Guz with his 16 years old son. Toward
the end of 1942 Apolonia rented an apartment in Warsaw for her charges:
Sura Matla Guz, her son Gerszon Szarfsztejn, as well as Hersz, Mosze and
Taube Zyserman. For all of them Apolonia organized false Kennkarten,
even more than once when it was necessary. Although her family had
signed the Volksliste, she refused to do it, until she was put before the
choice: either forced labor in Germany or signing the Volksliste and continuing
the care of her charges. In consultation with them she signed the
list. In 1981 Sura Matla Guz and another of her charges who survived
sent an attestation that Apolonia took care of them, visited them every
day and organized false identifications, in a most disinterested manner. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

The Przybylskis lived in
Piotrkow Kujawski, from which they were driven out. Zdzislaw was
incarcerated. After many painful experiences they reached Warsaw
and found an ex-Jewish apartment. They took in Julia Szliferstein
with her daughter Maria, who had already false identifications. Blackmailers
found them even there. During the Warsaw Uprising Jadwiga and Maria
Szliferstein served as nurses in the insurgents' hospital. Both Szlifersteins
survived, but Wanda Przybylski, the younger daughter, perished. See:
Grynberg, op. cit.

Bronislaw lived with his
wife Waleria, born Kowalik (q.v.) in the village of Borowna. Bronislaw
brought home Sabina Hollander and several other Jews from the Plaszow or
Bochnia camp: Anna Hesla, her son Ignacy, her brother Julian, brothers
Jonek and Szlamek Nut, Uniek Weinfeld and Janina Wulf with her 6 years
old son David. Bronislaw transformed the cellar and camouflaged it; but
when people suspected him of hiding Jews, he let Wladyslawa Kowalik, (q.v.)
his wife's sister, living with them, to take the Jews to the Kowalik's
home at Rajbrot. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

PRZYBYLOWSKI-JANKOWERNY,
Kazimiera (1905-)

Kazimiera worked on the farm
belonging to Jozef and Anna Kalisiak (q.v.) in the village of Bartniki,
Skierniewice district. Roman Jankowerny, from the village of Doleck,
was employed on the same farm. During the occupation Roman had to
hide in the forest, where Kazimiera brought him food. Together with
the Kalisiaks she prepared for him a hideout in the barn and a second one
in a concealed bunker. Germans searched the farm several times and
arrested Anna Kalisiak, trying to make her confess that she harbored a
Jew, but she did not admit it. During the first searches the Germans
took from the house all things of value, sheepskins, garments, jewelry. When they even shot a rooster, the villagers thought that they had shot
someone of them. After the war Roman Jankowerny married Kazimiera. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

Mrs. Zofia Z. from Zawichost
wrote an 18 pages story about how she was saved. Her husband, Mair Z., had
fought in the Dabrowski Brigade in Spain before the
war. Many people helped
her, beside Jozef Przysiecki, and his mother.
The first to help her were
the Brzezinskis, taking her into their home. That family
consisted of Zygmunt (1900-1960)
from Skarzysko, his wife Zofia, (1905-1961) born Pstruszynski and their
son Janusz Brzezinski, born in 1932. Zofia Z. stayed also with the
Ziemniaks, Maria and her brother, Jozef, in Ozarow. They became goods
friends, but Jozef was killed for his help to Jews. The next family
were the Jasinskis: Jan and his wife Paula, (called Ola) who was previously
married to Jozef Ziemniak. Of the Jasinski's children, the elder
sons, Kazimierz and Waldemar, are no more living, but their daughter, Elzbieta,
the youngest, now Czajka, remembers most vividly Zofia, whom she called
"aunt" and her small daughter, Margot. Zofia's Z. account is full
of dramatic experiences. One relates how she walked to Ozarow, in
company of another Jewish girl, Itka B., also harbored by the Przysieckis. Zofia, with swollen legs and completely exhausted, could not walk anymore. Lucjan Tobolski (1924-) unknown to her, Jan Jasinski's friend, carried
her on his back for ca. a mile and brought her to the Ziemniaks and helped
her during her stay with them. Another story is Zofia's stay, on
several occasions with the parish priest of Trojca, suburb of Zawichost,
who encouraged his parishioners not to collaborate with the occupying authorities. The priest's name was Ignacy Zycinski (q.v.). He was raided
19 times by allegedly Polish partisans, who searched for Jews. At
that time all kinds of "partisans", be it Communists, Belorussian, Ukrainian,
Russian or simply bandits, who all spoke Polish, could easily be mistaken
for being Polish partisans. [Remark of this researcher] Zofia
relates also about her escape from arrest, when in company of Mrs. Kowalski,
in whose home she waited till the liberation by the Red Army. She
spent also some time with the Kwiecinskis. The memoirs of Zofia Z.
and correspondence with the families named above are in possession of this
researcher. Yad Vashem recognized as "Righteous" only Maria, her
son Jozef and Father Zycinski on Nov. 21, 1993, No. 5901 & 5901a. Their cause was started in 1990.

Jan and Wiktoria, both aged
70, farmers from Jaworze Dolne, near Pilzno, Tarnow prov., were shot on
Feb. 4, 1943 in a group of four (4) farmers and six (6) Jewish fugitives
whom they harbored. They were mentioned here previously in the list
"Those Who Paid With Their Lives". See also: Bartoszewski & Lewin,
op. cit.

PSTROKONSKI, Janusz (-1979)
engineer
PSTROKONSKI, Zofia (1904-)
wife

When the couple's house in
Warsaw was destroyed by bombardment (1939) they moved to their estate Olesin
near Nadarzyn, Sochaczew district. In 1942 three young Jews, brothers
Zychlinskis, Leon and Szloma and Mosze Zylberberg, escaped a transport
to Treblinka and hid in the shrubbery near Olesin. Janusz helped
them to make a bunker there in which he placed also some Soviet captives,
providing food for all. To the Pstrokonskis there came often the
fiancée of Szloma, Bluma-Irena and in 1944 there came Bernard Fogelewicz,
whom the Pstrokonskis introduced to friends as their cousin. Once
Janusz opened the door to find himself in front of the German commander
of Nadarzyn, brother of the Warsaw district governor, Ludwig Fischer, who
came with his aide-de camp. Zofia with composure invited them for
a meal. A Mrs. Mosiek also benefited from the Pstrokonski's help. She was shot when the Germans found her praying at the Jewish cemetery. All the others survived. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

The Puch family farmed at
Wolka Konska (Chelm prov.). There lived a Jewish family, the Wagners:
Lejba and Sara and their three children. The parents and the two
younger children perished during the occupation. Their daughter,
15 years old Gitla, was taken in by the Puchs. Danuta, then under
age, took particular care of her. She got for her from a parish priest
a birth certificate as Stanislawa Puch, supposedly her sister. In
1942 Danuta brought her to Janina Wroblewski in Warsaw, who even found
work for her at a dentist's. When Janina was taken to the Rawensbruck
concentration camp, where women were subjected to "medical" experiments,
Gitla remained in her apartment. Both survived. See: Grynberg,
op. cit.

The story of the three Puchalski
families had previously been described here, in details, following the
list of "Those Who Paid with Their Lives" and before that of the "Righteous
among the Nations".
Since this story first appeared
on this site, in the first few pages of the list of the "Righteous", the
first and third family, counting chronologically, involved in saving the
child Joseph F., have been recognized as "Righteous". The second
in the order of events, the 17 years old Stefania Z., and her 14 years
old brother, also Stanislaw, children of Kazimierz and Emilia, (born Molch)
Puchalskis have not been recognized, although they seem to be the most
deserving of the three. The story of the saving
was first published in the Yiddish paper "Folks-Sztyme" in Poland on Nov.
7, 1987. This researcher came to know about it in 1993, and followed
it up. The recognition of the first and third family is dated March
13, 2000 and the letter announcing it is dated April 12, 2000. Case
Nos. 6944 and 6944a

Alex Zandman, a 15 years
old boy fled the Grodno ghetto (the town was incorporated after the war
into Belorussia) just before its liquidation. His family possessed
before the war some summer cottages for hire to tourists in the Lososna
forest. The only one not destroyed was that occupied by Jan Puchalski,
who earned a small salary as a worker in a tobacco company. Alex,
who before used to play with Jan's children, asked him for shelter. He was received warmly, although he did not have anything to offer them. Anna told him that his grandmother, Tema, took her to the hospital when
she was about to give birth (the only time she had such a luxury) and offered
gifts for the newborn. She always prayed to be able one day to repay
her. So, God, hearing her prayers, sent Alex to them, she said. The next day five other Jews found their way to the Puchalskis. The
latter put them in a potato cellar 50 yards from the house, but for greater
security, dug out a hole under one bedroom, 5 feet by 5 feet, 3 and 1/2
feet high, which was extremely small for six persons. They stayed
in that hole for seventeen months, often very hungry, as the Puchalskis
were very poor themselves, but they shared everything with their charges,
never hinting that they should leave. Even their children tried to
encourage them and prayed for them. According to Alex's words, the
Puchalskis treated them all "with the highest respect and love for everyone". See: Paldiel, op. cit. Felix (Alex?) Zandman of
Philadelphia recalls in an article of Dec. 1989 how he and other Jews of
Grodno (now in Bielorussia) were forced on Nov. 1, 1941 into the ghetto
to work for the Germans. On Feb. 13, 1943 he fled the ghetto to Lososna,
to Jan and Anna Puchalskis who were the innkeepers there. He was
well received although, as he recounts "they were very, very poor.they
had no food.they took me in like a family member. I was hidden immediately;
for this there was a death penalty. They had five children: 15, 16,
and 17 years old and two little ones, age 1 and 2. She was risking
their lives". Then joined them his uncle and four other Jews, six
(6) people for 17 months. Germans came several times to look for
the Jews, but "the Puchalskis never lost courage, never. We lost
courage.they built our morale up". Sabina used to bring them food
and take the wastes out. The Germans threw the Puchalskis from their
house. Some of the Jews died, but other, like Motl Bass, also present
at the ceremony, escaped; their descendants count now 35 persons. The Anti-Defamation League's Courage to Care Award was given to the Puchalskis
couple in form of bronze plaques by artist Arbit Blatas and handed by ADL
National Director, Abraham H. Foxman. Mr. Foxman expressed at this
occasion his gratitude to a Polish Christian nursemaid, who claimed him
as her own child and raised him for several years. On the photo appear:
Mr. Abraham H. Foxman, Felix Zandman and Sabina Kazimierczyk of Gdansk,
mentioned above. Felix concluded: "In our Torah it says that man
is made in the image of God. For me the Puchalskis are such people."

Mother and son lived at Sardyki,
Braslaw district, Vilna prov. They harbored one of Wladyslaw's schoolmates,
Abram Bryo and his younger sister Stefania. In May 1943 the Bryos
joined Soviet partisans, but continued benefiting from the Puchalskis'
help, especially from their food. The Puchalskis also helped other
Jews, like the Jankiel brothers. Abram Bryo wrote in 1983 from Israel,
that from July 1941 till May 1943 they were concealed, fed and taken care
by Wladyslaw, who first proposed to hide him and his sister, Stefania,
without any payment, for which "I am immensely grateful to him". See: Grynberg, op. cit.

During the war Zygmunt Weinreb,
a boy of seven, lived with his mother at Makow, with false identification
as Poles. His mother disappeared when traveling to Cracow. Zygmunt came to Jozef and told him the truth. Jozef took him into
his home where he harbored already Zygmunt's cousin. When Jozef Puchala
went to Makow to fetch Zygmunt's belongings he was arrested and sent to
the Gross Rosen concentration camp. Zygmunt survived and has today
a different name. The couple was honored in Cracow on Oct. 16, 1999
as "Righteous among the Nations", according to an announcement by the Israeli
Embassy in Poland.

The Pudlo family lived in
Boryslaw in a house in the forest, far from the town. Ten families
lived in that house. During the occupation the Pudlos harbored in
it seven (7) people: Hanka Klinberg with her five years old daughter, Mr. Operman, the Szeps couple, Rozia and Michal Szuster. From among
them only Michal did not survive: he disappeared when he went for a visit
to the ghetto. All emigrated to Israel or to the USA. It was
not simple to hide so many, as the neighbors were curious why Wladyslaw
used to bring so much food from the town. After the war the neighbors
begrudged the Pudlos for exposing them to such a terrible risk. See:
Grynberg, op. cit.

Gertruda resided in Pszczyna-Porebie,
Katowice prov. Germans, seeing already in mid 1944 the coming end
and wishing to conceal from the world the magnitude of their crimes, drove
through this locality a number of the Auschwitz inmates toward Germany. The people who died in that evacuation are calculated as to be ca. 15,000. Some were shot others died from exhaustion, hunger and cold. On Jan.
20, 1945 the column of the driven inmates reached Pszczyna-Porebie. Germans shoved some of them in Gertruda's barn. In that group there
were two young women: Anna Pinkus-Mysliborski from Sosnowiec and Maria
Teichman from Warsaw. Taking advantage of a moment of inattention
of the SS, they asked Gertuda to give them some potatoes. She gave
them the meal telling them that the Soviets are near. This emboldened
them to the point that they asked her to hide them and she agreed. When the SS officers found that two women were missing, they were furious;
but all their searching was in vain. As the front approached they
were in a hurry, so they drove the column of other inmates West, without
them. After they left, Gertruda found the two women on the fifth
day, completely exhausted. After a good crying session by all three,
Gertruda brought them a warm meal, a quilt, pillows and garments, as theirs
were in pieces. They remained in hiding as a German detachment still
stationed in the village, and one of its officers lived in Gertruda's house. After the war the two women left Poland. See: Grynberg, op. cit.

PUSZET-PIECHOWSKI, Janina
see PIECHOWSKI-PUSZET, J.

PYCEK, Leokadia

Leokadia was a janitor on
Radziwilowska Street in Warsaw. She took some "cigarette boys" into
her flat for several days and fed them. They were Jewish children
who tried to make a living by illegal trading, centered on the Plac Trzech
Krzyzy (Three Crosses Square) in cigarettes bought from the German soldiers. Other people who helped them similarly were Tadeusz Idzikowski and especially
the most devoted to them, Mrs. Kalota, from Widok Street, who sheltered
three such children for a longer period. From among the "cigarette
children" only three did not survive: two perished by their own imprudence
and the only Pole among them, Romuald Plonkowski, drowned in the Vistula
River, trying to rescue a drowning colleague. Jozef Zysman-Ziemian,
an engineer and liaison officer of the ZKN (Jewish National Committee)
wrote an amazing book about their exploits. It was published in 1963
in Israel in Hebrew, Yiddish, Romanian and Polish. Neither Mrs. Kalota,
nor Tadeusz, nor a woman doctor, who helped them, were recognized as "Righteous". See: Bartoszewski & Lewin, op. cit.

The Pyrcaks farmed on 10
hectares in the village of Prusiek, Sanok prov. On their farm they
harbored seventeen (17) Jews. Michal, the younger of the two brothers,
lived at that time in Sanok. His acquaintance, Mrs. Kusmierczyk,
(q.v.) harbored a group of Jews. She gave Michal money to buy food
for them. Michal was arrested when in the town and sent to the Mauthausen
concentration camp, from which he did not return. Kusmierczyk's brother
and a friend of his were guilty of this tragedy. They did not however
betray the Jews, probably for fear for Mrs. Kusmierczyk's fate. After
the arrest of Michal, Stanislaw Pyrcak came to Mrs. Kusmierczyk, with the
representative of the hidden Jews, Mojzesz Liberman. They asked him
to urgently take away her Jews, as they all felt endangered. The
next night Mojzesz brought 16 persons over to the Pyrcaks: Wolf Kramer with
his wife and sons: Iccahk, Hersz, his fiancée Sarenka Parnas, Mojzesz's
family: wife and son Mysiek, nephew Anek, Jechiel Proper with daughters
Muszka, Helena and Hinda. At the beginning Stefania Pyrcak was terrorized
by the risks to her family and she cried for several days. Then in
her sleep, she recounted, she saw a sudden bright light and in the midst
of it the Holy Virgin Mary, who told her: "Do not fear my daughter and
do not despair. You will all survive." They all believed in it. And so they did survive. But after the war the same man who had betrayed
Michal, killed Jechiel Proper and his daughter Muszka, and wounded his
other daughter in Sanok. The military authorities of the town put
him to death by firing squad for that crime. Michal was awarded
posthumously the medal "Righteous Among the Nations". He was named
here in the list of Those, Who Paid with Their Lives". See: Grynberg,
op. cit

Henryk Szaniawski escaped
in December 1942 from a camp to his acquaintances, the Pytlarz for a certain
time. He appeared at their home again in 1944 with a group of Jewish
partisans and stayed there till the end of the war. The couple was
honored as "Righteous" on Dec. 15, 1999 in Warsaw, as announced the Israeli
Embassy in Poland.